The ''BBC News at Five'' was an hour-long daily news programme which was broadcast at 5:00pm on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

between 2006 and 2020. The programme was fronted by Huw Edwards, who at the time was the BBC's lead presenter for major breaking news.

Gavin Esler Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish people, Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, ''Newsnight'', from January 2003 until Jan ...

Jane Hill Jane Amanda Hill (born 10 June 1969 in Eastbourne, Sussex) is an English newsreader working for the BBC. She is one of the main presenters for BBC News, and is the main presenter on the '' BBC News at One'', as well as regularly presenting the ...

presented the show on a Friday. The show included a detailed look at the news, as well as analysis with guests and sport and weather updates. The programme was placed on an indefinite hiatus as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The final edition of the ''BBC News at Five'' was broadcast on 13 March 2020.

History

The programme started on 3 April 2006 as part of the BBC's relaunch of BBC News presenters, which saw the introduction of the new flagship programme to compete against Jeremy Thompson's '' Live at Five'' programme on rival channel

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

, and to improve BBC News ratings for the hour. As part of the 2008 news revamp, the show moved studios within

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...

along with

and the ''

BBC News at One The ''BBC News at One'' is the BBC's afternoon news programme on British television channels BBC One and the BBC News channel with British Sign Language Interpretation, broadcast weekdays at 1:00pm and produced by BBC News. The programme runs fo ...

'' and '' BBC News at Ten'' bulletins. The show originally broadcast from Studio N8 but moved to Studio N6. On 18 March 2013, the programme moved to

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

along with BBC News and the BBC One bulletins. Unlike most other BBC News Channel bulletins, the ''BBC News at Five'' was presented from Studio C, which was usually the main studio for BBC World News. On 4 November 2013, the ''BBC News at Five'' received new opening titles featuring the broadcast hour. On 13 March 2020, the last edition of the BBC News at Five'' was broadcast until further notice in light of the

. The UK Government's daily press conference on the pandemic was broadcast in place of ''BBC News at Five'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

Outside broadcasts

As well as presenting from the studio, the main presenters were called upon to present on location when major stories broke. For example, Huw Edwards presented live from the BBC's Washington Studio for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 US Presidential Elections and presented live from Basra from the withdrawal ceremony.

George Alagiah George Maxwell Alagiah (; 22 November 1955 – 24 July 2023) was a British newsreader, journalist and television presenter for the BBC. From 2007 until 2022, he was the presenter of the '' BBC News at Six'' and the main presenter of '' GMT'' on ...

presented from L'Aquila in April 2009 and Haiti in January 2010 when earthquakes struck the countries. During the 2015 Election campaign Edwards presented from across the UK, while

was based in Edinburgh and Clive Myrie served as the London presenter.

Presenters

If there is no position before the years of being a presenter, then this newsreader was either a relief presenter or occasional guest stand-in presenter. * Huw Edwards (Main presenter, 2006–2020) *

(Deputy presenter, 2006–2017) *

(Deputy presenter, 2017–2020) * Ben Brown (2006–2020) *

Louise Minchin Louise Mary Minchin (née Grayson; born 8 September 1968) is a British television presenter, journalist and former news presenter who currently works freelance within the BBC. Beginning in 2012, Minchin was a regular anchor on the BBC One pro ...

(2006–2011) * Peter Sissons (2006–2009) *

Julian Worricker Julian Gordon Worricker (born 6 January 1963 in Woking, Surrey) is an English journalist, currently working as one of the main presenters of ''Weekend'' on the BBC World Service, as stand-in presenter of '' Any Answers'' on BBC Radio 4, and as a ...

(2006–2020) *

Emily Maitlis Emily Maitlis (born 6 September 1970) is a Canadian-born British journalist and former newsreader for the BBC who was the lead anchor of the BBC Two news and current affairs programme ''Newsnight'' until the end of 2021. She has since been a pre ...

(2007–2016) * Nicholas Owen (2008–2017) *

Tim Willcox Timothy Melton Willcox (born 28 May 1963 in Wellington, Somerset, Wellington, Somerset) is a British journalist who formerly worked as a presenter for BBC News. He presents news programmes on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He is proba ...

(2008–2015) * Joanna Gosling (2009–2010) * Jon Sopel (2009–2012) * Clive Myrie (2010–2020) *

Zeinab Badawi Zeinab Mohammed-Khair Badawi (; born 3 October 1959) is a Sudanese-British television and radio journalist, educator, civic activist, and writer. She was the first presenter of the ''ITV Morning News'' (later known as '' ITV News at 5:30''), an ...

(2011) * Sophie Long (2011–2012) * Annita McVeigh (2013–2017) * Matthew Price (2015) * Maxine Mawhinney (2015–2016) * Simon McCoy (2015–2019) * Christian Fraser (2016–2020) * Reeta Chakrabarti (2017–2020) *

Shaun Ley Shaun Dominic Ley (born 14 June 1969) is a British journalist and newsreader for BBC News. He currently appears regularly on a wide range of BBC programmes from ''HARDTalk'' to BBC Radio 4's ''The World Tonight'' and the BBC World Service's ''Ne ...

(2017–2020) * Martine Croxall (2018–2020) *

Carrie Gracie Carrie Gracie (born 1962)Ben Dowel"Carrie Gracie profile: Award-winning journalist with years at World Service" theguardian.com, 12 May 2009 is a Scottish journalist and newsreader best known as having been China Editor for BBC News. She resign ...

(2018–2020) * Rebecca Jones (2018–2020) * Carole Walker (2018–2019)

Format

Generally the programme followed a standard format as follows – * 5:00pm – Headlines * 5:00pm to 5:15pm – Stories * 5:15pm – Headlines * 5:15pm to 5:25pm – Interview, in-depth analysis * 5:25pm to 5:30pm – Weather * 5:30pm – Headlines * 5:30pm to 5:45pm – Stories with sports round-up (except on Friday) * 5:45pm – Headlines (except on Friday for a look ahead to Sportsday) * 5:45pm to 5:55pm – Interview, in-depth analysis (except on Friday for The Film Review) * 5:55pm to 6:00pm – Weather The weather updates were generally presented from the screen away from the main desk. Sports updates were presented from the BBC Sport Centre at

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

. '' The Film Review'' appeared during the programme on Fridays between 5:45pm and 6:00pm, and is presented by, usually,

and a film critic, usually

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter (with Ellen E. Jones) of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Screenshot'', and co-presenter ...

, from the main desk, however the background and lighting changes to resemble a cinema effect. It featured reviews of all the week's main releases.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc News at Five 2006 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2010s British television series BBC television news shows BBC New Media